Conference 2019:  Build Bridges Not Walls

Conference 2019 was held June 12-14, 2019 in London, Ontario at Brescia University College. Fifteen professional development workshops, the Student Annual General Meeting, the Student Scavenger Hunt, the LLO Annual General Meeting, and a Trainer Workshop took place during this action-packed event.

This year was special as we said goodbye to Lana Faessler as she retired from the Executive Director position after 26 years at the helm of LLO.  Even before becoming the Executive Director of LLO, she was a volunteer for many years in the adult literacy field.  Lana led the organization though transformations, different funders, and locations but one thing always remained the same – her dedication to and focus on the students. In commemoration to Lana a memory box with pictures from past conferences and messages from people she has touched and worked with over the years was presented at the Saturday evening banquet.  LLO is lucky that Lana is going to stay on part-time as the Financial Administrator.

We also said goodbye to our Office Manager Mary Anne Baker who is also retiring after 15 years with LLO.  We’ll miss her smile, her flare for fashion and her recommendations on great places to go for lunch…and we may even miss her organizational skills.

Wednesday afternoon started off with two engaging and lively roundtables - one geared to Administrators and the other for Practitioners and Tutors. The students also got together to share their thoughts and ideas around some student issues. An outdoor fire with SMORES ended the evening on a relaxing note.

After a fantastic dinner and celebration for Lana and Mary Anne on Thursday evening, participants played BIG (literally BIG) games and enjoyed a fun photo booth.  Thanks so much to Robyn Cook-Ritchie and Raina Ritchie for all of their hard work in putting this incredibly fun evening together. We definitely could not have done it without them!

All in all it was a great three day event with lots of learning, networking and of course a bit of fun!